Safety device for cigar wrapper cutters



Aug. 27, 1940. 5 L EN 2,213,081

SAFETY DEVICE FOR CIGAR WRAPPER CUTTERS Filed Feb. 18, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet l 7 m 17 ,6 smaaz' zmsm 5 I B/Y ATTOAIW g- 27, 1940' s. CLAUSEN I SAFETY DEVICE FOR CIGAR WRAPPER CUTTERS Filed Feb. 18, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 n x sa INVENTOR SIGURD CLAU SEN Irl, I

ATTORNEY A g- 27, 1940- s. CLAUSEN SAFETY DEVICE FOR CIGAR WRAPPER CUTTERS File d Feb. 18, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR N E s U A L C D R U m s TTORNEY 27, 1940. s. CLAUSEN 2,213,081

SAFETY DEVICE FOR CIGAR WRAPPER CUTTERS Filed Feb. 1a, 1938 4 Sheet-Sheet 4 INVENTOR SIGURD CLAUSEN BY 2 f ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 27, 1940 Sigurd Olausen, Brookly n, N. K, assignor to intel-national Cigar Machinery Company, a corporation of New Jersey Application February 18, 1938, Serial No. 191,135

15 Claims.

' This invention relates to a cigar making machine, especially to mechanism for cutting a cigar wrapper to its desired shape for rolling upon the bunch, or for use as a binder, and more particularly to a device for insuring safety to an operator while manipulating the leaf section as she spreads it on the die head of the cutting mechanism while the machine is in op eration.

When a leaf of tobacco is to be cut to its final blank or wrapper form, it must be spanned by the operator manually over the die head of the cutting mechanism, in position to be operated upon by a pair of cutting rolls, which are 'mounted upon a cutter head arranged to be reciprocated bodily in a regular, intermittent, movement to and fro over the die head, and in cutting relation therewith. These rolls usually move either from left to right, or from right to left, in the course of their cutting movement, and then in the opposite direction, passing di rectly onto and over the die head, and in each double passing of the cutting rolls they exert a cutting action twice upon the blank, and the cut wrapper is then removed by a suction head.

In preparation for each such cutting operation, it is necessary that the operator shall place upon the die head a new leaf part in time to be ready for the next cutting operation, and this manual operation of spanning the die head by such a leaf part is a step which requires more than ordinary dexterity on the part of the operators, most of whom are girls.

It not infrequently occurs that an operator, even though trained and dextrous, is injured when through inadvertence or by such accidental causes as are likely to be encountered in the course of any sustained repetition of such an operation, one or both of the hands of an operator gets in the way of the cutting head.

Under such conditions, it is highly desirable that there shall be provision of suitable devices to prevent such injuries, but so far as known to the present applicant, the appliances designed to be used for the above purpose have not given entire satisfaction, particularly in the respect that they do not operate at all such phases of the cycle of a cutting operation as demand safety in their action, or that they are arranged to move in an up and down direction during the safety operation, and are not designed for proper retraction from the path normally followed by the cutting head during the cutting opera-- tion.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a double acting safety device which will not be dependent upon any mental eifort by an operator, but will act automatically and reliably to prevent injury to the hands of the operator in the event that the operators hands, or either of them, shall not have been removed from the path of the oncoming cutting rolls in the course of placing the leaf part or wrapper blank upon the die head preliminary to the cutting operation.

1%. further object is to provide a safety means so organized and co-ordinated with the diehead and the swinging cutter head, that the safety of the operator is insured when the cutter head approaches from either side, the device being designed to operate immediately upon contact with either hand of the operator, or with any obstruction in the path of the cutting head.

Among other and ancillary objects of the invention is the provision, as a particular means for carrying the above general object into effect, of an attachment including a lever, or a plural-- ity of levers, each adapted to be tripped by virtue of mere contact with the hand of the operator, and each acting independently of the other, also the provision of cooperating means, released automatically by such operation of a tripping lever, to swing the cutting head out of its normal cutting path across the die-head, so

that all possibility of injury to the hands of the operator will be obviated, and soy that until reset positively by the operator, the die head will move in a path removed from its normal working path, thus avoiding injury either to the operator or to the machine.

A. further object is to provide a simple mechanism for the above purpose, which will not interfere with, nor render more difficult, the usual steps of the cutting operation, but will, on the contrary, impart to the operator, thus protected parts throughout the several views which make up the drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a partial plan view of a cigar-making machine, showing the cutting head and adjacent parts, in the construction of which the present invention has been embodied;

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation, partly in section, looking from right to left on Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of certain parts of the mechanism embodying the invention, in one operative position thereof;

Fig. 4 is a plan view similar to Fig. 3, showing said parts in another operative position;

Fig. 5 is a plan view similar to Figs. 3 and 4, showing opposite operative positions of the parts illustrating the invention;

Fig. 6 is a sectional plan view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 2;

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary detail View in vertical section taken on the line 'I-'! of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 8 is a similar fragmentary detail view in horizontal section taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 2.

In a now-preferred embodiment of the invention, and referring to the drawings as herewith shown, the bed plate H) of a cigar making machine is illustrated as having pivotally mounted thereon a reciprocating arm I l, adapted to be actuated, through a link l2, (Fig. 5), by a cam motion (not shown), or by any other suitable power transmitting means, and mounted on the end of the arm H is a bracket l3 carrying a shaft M, on the upper part of which is a cutting head unit l5. This cutting head is of a form well known in the art, (see Fig. 1), and has the usual set of cutting rolls l6 mounted each in an appropriate frame I7 and i ll, forming part of the unit l5 when the arm H is swung in an arcuate path, these rolls It being arranged to work in contact with the die H), which is formed with the design required to produce the desired shape of cut wrapper. The die I9 is mounted upon a suitable part I of the supporting structure which is disposed at a suitable distance below the path of the arm H and its associated parts to afford clearance therefor, as indicated in Fig. 2, which shows the arm H as swinging below the member if), the supporting part I90 which is shown in Fig. 5, being disposed at too low a level to appear in Fig. 2. As part of the cutting head unit l5, and fixed upon the upper end of the shaft i4, is a bracket member 20.

In pursuance of the present invention, this bracket is provided with a double acting safety device which comprises, in the best construction now known, and selected for illustration herein, a pair of trip levers 2| and 22, each of which is pivoted on one side of the bracket 20.

Lever 2i has a curved arm 23 extending beyond the pivot 59, and part of which is channelshaped as at 2t, to act as a guide for a latch pin 25 carried by a latch member 26 (Figs. 1, 6 and '7), which is pivoted at 27 upon an extension 28 at the head of an upright part of the bracket i3 (Figs. 2 and 6). Lever 22 also has an arm 29 extended beyond its pivot 60 (Fig. 1), and carries a pin 30 extending downwardly as shown in Fig. 2. The arms 23 and 29 are tied to each other by a link 3|.

Mounted on the shaft [4 (Fig. 2), between the brackets l3 and 20, is a disk 32 having notches 33 and 34 (Fig. 6). A catch 35 on latch 25 engages in the notch 33 and is held in engagement therewith by a tension spring 56, and the pin 30 engages in the notch 34. Depending from disk 32 and fitting on shaft [4 is a sleeve 36, having fastened to its lower end a collar 31 (Fig. 2). Acting in anti-clockwise direction is a coil spring 38 held between collar 3'! and bracket [3. Below collar 3'! is another coil spring 33, held between collar 31 and a collar 18 pinned to shaft Hi, this spring acting in a clockwise direction.

Compression springs it and 52 (Fig. 1) are provided between the bracket 28 and adjacent portions of the trip levers 2! and 22, so that the arms 23 and 29 are normally held in position by their springs to maintain the lug 35 and pin 30 in engagement with their notches 34 and 33 in disk 32, and when the arms are so held there will be no action of either the spring 38 or the spring 39, so that the cutting head i 5 will be in its conventional cutting position as it passes over the die head l8, and the rolls IE will ride over cutting die I9 and out out the wrapper (not shown). This position is shown in Fig. 1.

When the reciprocating arm I i approaches the midway position of its stroke, and should the operators hand be in the way as the cutting head 15 is coming from the right, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the hand of the operator, while occupied with handling the leaf, is struck by the trip lever 2!, the channeled part 2 of the extended arm 23 will move the pin 25 to cause latch 26 to disengage its catch 35 from its Fig. 6 position of engagement in the notch 33 of disk 32. This disengagement will free the disk 32, and permit the bias of coil spring 38 (Fig. 2) to become effective to rotate the collar 3?, together with the sleeve 36, and disk 32, thus acting to swing the entire cutting head 15 in an anticlockwise direction.

During this period, lever 22 is held in the same relative position as shown in Fig. 1, the pin 36 still remaining in engagement with the notch 3 as shown, being held in this position by the link 3| which has a slot Bl in which the pin 57 at end of arm 29 allows for a limited relative movement as between the levers 2i and 22. To aid in holding lever 22 in position, an upwardly extending pin 43 (Figs. 3 and 4) fastened to an extended part 44- of bracket l3 engages one of the channel walls 24 of the arm 23 of lever 21 and holds the arm 23 and lever 2! in its tripped position of Fig. 3. Disengaged lug 35 of latch 23, during this period rides along the outside contour 5&- of the disk 32 under tension of spring 55, (Fig. 6).

Should an operators hand be in the Way while the cutting head i5 is coming from the left, as shown in Fig. 4, and be engaged by the trip lever 22, pin 30 on the arm 23 of lever 22 will become disengaged from its notch 34 in disk 32 (Fig. 6) and will allow the bias of coil spring 33 (Fig. 2) to become effective to turn the cutting head [5 in a clockwise direction as indicated in Fig. i. During this movement, the latch 23 is held in engaged position with disk 32 by spring 56, thereby holding said disk in the same position as shown in Fig. 1.

To limit the swinging movement of the cutting head l5 so as to clear the cutting die I 9, and thus avoid the possibility of cutting the operators hand between the cutting head i? and cutting die I9, the shaft [4 (Fig. 2) has on its lower end a crank or arm member 45 adapted to engage either of the stop abutment surfaces 6 or l! of 2. depending part 48 cf the bracket l3 (see Fig. 8). The swing of the cutting hea :5 also raises the head vertically to give further clearance and avoid any possibility of the rollers sliding on the cutting edge [9 when the head is released. This elevation is accomplished by a stud 49 set in the lower part of bracket [3, being held in engagement with a cam groove 50 by a spring yoke 5! fastened to bracket I3. Any rotation of shaft i4 shaft and head as the upper wall of the cam groove 56 rides on the stud it.

In Fig. 5, the cutting head I is shown in dotand-dash lines in a tripped position at the end of its stroke to the left, and partly in dotted lines and partly in full lines in a tripped position at the end of its stroke to the right. As shown here it will be noted that the cutting head is not in the full tripped position at this point. If it were, it would strike into a drum 52 of the re-rolling mechanism. To guide the swinging movement at this point there is provided on the crank 45 (Fig. 2) a depending post 53 to ride against the edge of a cam plate 54 bolted at 55 to the bed plate ill. The cam plate 54 thus controls the angular position of the cutting head I 5 when the latter swings to the right of the die head 68.

It will be understood readily from the foregoing that if the cutter head occupies the position shown in dash-dot lines in Fig. 5, after it has been tripped and swings to that position in pursuance of the invention, should no action be taken by the operator, and the machine continue to function, the head 55 will continue to occupy the same relative position upon the arm it while the latter is caused by operation of the machine to swing past the die head.

When so swung, the cutter head IE will pass behind the die l9 so that even if the operators hand remains upon the die, the cutter head will avoid furher contact with the operators hand. This will be true even if there is more than one reciprocation of the cutter head by its arm.

So also if the cutter head be tripped in the course of a swing from right to left, i. e., from the dotted line position of arm H toward the dash-dot position thereof, the cutter head, when tripped, will swing to the position shown at the right of Fig. 5, the lever 2| occupying its full line position, and the head will remain in that relative position with respect to the arm H even when the arm is swung over toward the left in the course of operation of the machine, no cutting engagement by the cutting rolls iii taking place, however, for the reason that they are caused to swing in a path behind the position of the cutter die Hi.

When the cutter head occupies either of the positions illustrated in Fig. 5, it will be necessary for the operator to swing the cutter head l5 back around the shaft 54 to a position in which the cutter head and the levers 2! and 22 extend along the axis of the arm ii, and as a result of the manual setting, the latch projection 35 (see Fig. 6), and the pin 39 will both occupy the Fig. 6 position, and the cutter head will function normally as long as the machine operates, until a further tripping of either the lever 2! or the lever 22.

What is claimed is;

1. The combination with a cutting bed, a supporting member movable relatively to said cutting bed, and a cutting head articulated to said supporting member, and movable therewith along a predetermined path for cutting a leaf-section on said bed, of mechanism for incapacitating said cutting head when it encounters an obstruction in its working path while moving in either direction, said mechanism including means to retract the cutting head horizontally around said articulation and rearward of its path, while maintaining the cutting head in parallel relation with respect to the cutting bed.

2. In a cigar making machine of the class described, having a die head and a cutter head, a supporting structure upon which said die head is mounted fixedly, and upon which a movable supporting member is mounted, said cutter head being articulated with said supporting member, which is adapted to reciprocate said cutting head to and fro through a predetermined path in cutting engagement with the work on said die head, and means to retract said head rearward automatically from its regular working path, and

relatively to said supporting member, in the event that said cutting head, upon approaching said die-head, in either direction, encounters an ob struction, such as the hand of an operator, and said retractive movement being effected while maintaining the lower face of the cutting head in parallel relation with the cutting bed so that a regular cycle ofmovement of the cutting head may be maintained without injury to the operator onto the working parts.

3. In a cigar making machine of the class described, having a die head and a cutter head, a supporting structure upon which said die head is mounted fixedly, and upon which a swinging supporting member is pivoted, adapted to reciprocate said cutting head to and fro through an 'arcuate path in cutting engagement with the work on said die head, means to articulate said cutting head with said swinging member, upon an upright axis of articulation, and means to divert said head automatically, horizontally around the axis of articulation, out of its regular working path, in the event that said swinging cutting head, upon approaching said die-head in either .direction, encounters an obstruction, such as the hand of an operator, so that a regular cycle of movement of the cutting head may me maintained without injury to the operator or to the working parts.

4. A wrapper-cutting mechanism of the class described, having the features claimed in claim 2, in which said reciprocating structure is provided with a sensing means adapted to be en gaged with such an abnormal obstruction in the working path, and connections, operated by said sensing means, to incapacitate said cutting mechanism substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth, said sensing means including a feeler device at each side of said head, and a link constructed and arranged to coordinate the operations of said feeler devices, permitting a limited loose motion of one feeler device relatively to the other.

5. A wrapper-cutting mechanism of the class described, having the features claimed in claim 2, in which said swinging reciprocating structure is provided with a sensing means adapted to be engaged with such an abnormal obstruction in the working path, and connections operated by said sensing means, to incapacitate said cutting mechanism substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth, said sensing means including a pair of levers, each mounted on a pivot carried by said cutter head, each of said levers having an arm adapted to serve as a feeler arm and each having another arm, and a link joining said last-named arms together, said link having a pin-and-slot connection with at least one of the arms conjoined by the link.

6. A wrapper-cutting mechanism of the class described, having the features claimed in claim 2, in which the cutting head is mounted to oscillate about an auxiliary upright pivot upon its supporting member and said supporting member is mounted to reciprocate about an upright pivot on the underlying supporting structure, and in which a locking means is provided acting normally to hold the cutting head immovably with relation to its reciprocating support, thereby incapacitating the articulatory action therebetween, and a sensing lever operable by said engagement with an obstruction, and acting, when operated, to break the locking effect, thereby to release the head for said articulate diversion from the working path, around said first-named upright pivot, permitting the support to swing rotatably about the last-named upright pivot, thereby decreasing the radial displacement of the cutting head from said last-named pivot to a substantial extent in its horizontal plane of movement.

7. A wrapper-cutting mechanism of the class described, having the features claimed in claim 3, in which a locking means is provided acting normally to hold the cutting head immovably with relation to its swinging support, thereby incapacitating the articulatory action therebetween, and a sensing lever operable by said engagement with an obstruction, and acting, when operated, to break the locking effect, thereby to release the head for said articulate diversion from the working path, and a spring means to bias said head, when released, to a diverted position of the desired order, in which the head moves bodily with its swinging support in an are spaced from, and concentric with, the normal working path of the cutting head.

8. In a cigar making machine of the type having a cutting bed, and a cutting head movable along a predetermined path for cutting a leafsection on said bed, mechanism for incapacitating said cutting head when it encounters an obstruction in its working path while moving in either direction, said mechanism including an upright shaft mounting said cutting head pivotally for limited movement in a horizontal plane, and a plurality of devices one adapted to bias said head in one direction around said pivot, and another of said devices adapted to bias the cutting head in the opposite direction, whereby said cutting head is retracted rearward of its cutting path when either of said devices is made effective.

9. In a cigar making machine of the type having a cutting bed, and a cutting head movable along predetermined path for cutting a leafsection on said bed, mechanism for incapacitating said cutting head when it encounters an obstruction in its working path while moving in either direction, said mechanism including an upright shaft mounting said cutting head pivotally for limited movement in a horizontal plane, and a plurality of spring devices, one of said spring devices being adapted to bias said head in one direction around said pivot, and another of said spring devices being adapted to bias the cutting head in the opposite direction, whereby said cutting head is retracted rearwardly of its cutting path when either of said devices is made efiective.

In a cigar making machine of the type having a cutting bed, and a cutting head movable along a predetermined path for cutting a leaf-section on said bed, mechanism for incapacitating said cutting head when it encounters an obstruction in its working path while moving in either direction, said mechanism comprising an ght shaft mounting said cutting head pivotally for limiting movement in a horizontal plane, a plurality of devices one adapted to bias said head in one direction around said pivot, and another of said devices adapted to bias the cutting head in the opposite direction, whereby said cutting head is retracted rearward of its cutting path when either of said devices is made effective, each of said devices including a spring coiled c0- axially of said shaft, the springs being efiective in opposite directions, means to hold each spring under tension, ready to exert its bias when released, and a sensing means for each device, with connections adapted to release a selected one of the holding means to make efiective the bias of that spring which will turn the cutting head in the proper direction to retract it rearwardly of its path when an obstruction is encountered.

11. In a cigar making machine of the type having a cutting bed, and a cutting head movable along a predetermined path for cutting a leaf-section on said bed, a base supporting said cutting head, mechanism for incapacitating said cutting head when it encounters an obstruction in its working path while moving in either direction, said mechanism including an upright shaft mounting said cutting head pivotally for limited movement in a horizontal plane, a pinrality of devices one adapted to bias said head in one direction around said pivot, and another of said devices adapted to bias the cutting head in the opposite direction, whereby said cutting head is retracted rearwardly of its cutting path when either of said devices is made eifective, a sleeve, 2. disk carried by said sleeve interposed between said cutter head and its supporting base, and permitting relative rotation as between the sleeve and shaft at times, a latch, spring-biased to a position in which it couples said disk and supporting base against relative rotation, a sensing lever adapted to be operated by an obstruction encountered in one-way operation of the cutter head to trip said latch and permit retractive bias of the head to become eiiective, a second sensing-lever having a pin, and springbiased to a position in which said pin holds said cutter head against rotation around the axis of said shaft relatively to said sleeve and disk, said second sensing lever being operable by an obstruction encountered in the working path of the cutting head when moving in reverse, and permitting when so tripped a retractive bias of said cutter head from its operative path to become eiiective in the opposite direction.

12, The combination with a cutting bed, and a cutting head movable along a predetermined path for cutting a leaf-section on said bed, of mechanism for incapacitating said cutting head when it encounters an obstruction in its working path while moving in either direction, said mechanism comprising means to retract the cutting head rearward of its path, including a support, an upright shaft mounted rotativeiy in said support, and on which shaft said cutter head is mounted, and means, acting when said shaft rotates relatively to its support, to cause said shaft and cutter-head to rise along its upright axis, thereby to permit said cutter head to move in a plane parallel with that or" the cutting bed and spaced therefrom, while said cutter head lags behind the upright shaft in its path.

13. The combination with a cutting bed, and a cutting head movable along a predetermined path for cutting a leaf-section on said bed, of mechanism for incapacitating said cutting head when it encounters an obstruction in its working path while moving in either direction, said mechanism comprising means to retract the cutting head rearward of its path, including a support, an upright shaft mounted rotatively in said support, and on which shaft said cutter head is mounted, a coil spring co-axial with said shaft and adapted to bias said head rotatively in one direction to efiect said incapacitation, a coil spring co-aXial with said shaft and adapted to bias said head in the opposite direction, means to make the bias of said springs alternatively effective, according to the direction in which said obstruction is encountered, and means, acting when said shaft rotates relatively to its support, to cause said shaft and cutter-head to rise along its upright axis, thereby to permit said cutter head to move in a plane parallel with that of the cutting bed and spaced-therefrom.

14. In a cigar making machine of the class described, having a die head, a cutter head, an associated mechanism, and a supporting structure upon which said associated mechanism and die-head are mounted fixedly, and upon which a reciprocating member is mounted, adapted to reciprocate said cutting head to and fro in cutting engagement with the work on said die head, means to articulate said cutting head with said nism.

reciprocating member, means to divert said head automatically around the axis of articulation, out of its regular working path, in the event that said cutting head, upon approaching said die head, encounters an obstruction, such as the hand of an operator, whereby a regular cycle of movement of the cutting head may be maintained without injury to the operator or to the working parts, said means including a sensing lever at the side of said reciprocating head proximate to said associated mechanismwhenthecutter head moves in that direction, and means to cause reverse movement of said cutter head around its axis of articulation at each retractive movement thereof into such proximity, whereby undesirable contact of the cutting head, and of its parts, with the said associated mechanism, is avoided.

15. A cigar making machine having the features claimed in claim 14, in which a cam is mounted on the supporting structure, and. acts to engage a part of the cutter head and turn the same as it approaches said associated mecha- SIGURD CLAUSEN 

